Reviews

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

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jolea_is_awesome's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This left me very unsatisfied and the ending was more like the story trailing off. No resolution, nothing to contemplate. Just stopped.

mtstellens's review against another edition

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4.0

I loved the setup and structure of this book. I think the podcast format was really interesting and had sections running through all of the potential murderers. I liked the actual prose and the setup of the narrator talking directly to the music teacher. Overall, it was a good page turner and definitely better than the classic genre thrillers. The twist that it was the boyfriend and that there was obvious evidence was really well written. Especially after talking to the guy's wife and seeing the effect of, at the time we think false, accusations. It was a 'regular' story made more.
I thought the twist at the end was good and I liked that there was a bit of an open end. There are many bad guys in this story and I felt like we got just enough closure to be satisfying but open enough to keep you thinking about it. It was still heartbreaking that the coach wasn’t acquitted, but it was realistic. Also I thought that the author did a really good job with integrating covid into the book, I went to an author talk with her and it was interesting to hear her having to rewrite it multiple times based on mask mandates as she lived through them.
I think that the “me too” thing in the middle of the book was weirdly placed and kind of a distraction. It felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the book. I can see the point Makkai was trying to make, that there is a spectrum to these thing and that it can be more gray than what twitter would say, but its inclusion felt like it cheapened what happened to the students by the music teacher and it made the mee too discussion short and it felt unfinished. I guess it felt like this book bit off a bit more than it could chew with this and the criminal justice system.

jxsu's review against another edition

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4.0

this book was a complicated, meandering story that — while interesting and thought-provoking — didn’t totally satisfy. it seemed the pieces that were meant to be revelatory or shine a light onto the hypocrisy of our own systems didn’t have an impact the way they might have a few years ago, in part because we’ve already been having conversations like this as a society.

I always love how rebecca makkai writes her characters and stories. while I don’t think this holds a candle to “the great believers”, I enjoyed it. just don’t go in expecting a thriller — the pace is slow and deliberate.

cat_m_82's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

samithelearned's review against another edition

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3.0

My not liking this book all that much is much more my fault than the books

I think this book is like too self aware, I don't really care to hear a white woman's thoughts on true crime but cut to me a full book later. Thriller part was thrilling enough to finish

kibird's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was enjoyable, but I wanted it to be as good as The Great Believers, and it really was not - I couldn’t even really tell they were written by the same author. In retrospect, that’s probably an unfair way to rate a book.